Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news features
and debate from the quirky world of cricket. I'm Alison Mitchell and I am in the commentary box
at the Oval in South London. Today we've got the Test match of England's men against South Africa.
It's the last of the summer and it does feel like it's getting to the end of the summer here because
the weather has suddenly turned. After we've had glorious hot sunshine, it's rain, rain, rain.
But, of course we won't have a Test match this late in the summer next year because everything's going to
be crammed into June and July with a window for the Hundred in August. Whether that continues,
we will await to see. But for the moment, One Day cricket is aside and it's back to the glorious
Five Day game. Ah, we love that red ball.
Well some of us. Jim Maxwell in Sydney
and we're watching cricket in Australia up in Queensland, where it's like the middle of summer up there, much warmer in
Townsville and Cairns. And Zimbabwe pulled off an amazing win the other day as we're about to
hear and now New Zealand are giving Australia a bit of a rock and roll in their three One Dayers.
Well, enjoy red ball cricket til it lasts. Hi, this is Charu Sharma,
glad to be back home or should I say on Stumped again. Back in Bangalore, where unfortunately,
the city is flooded. So there's a lot of chaos, but it was nice being in Kenya for a while and
the fact that the first steps are being taken for a revival of cricket in Kenya just pleases me and
I'm sure the cricket world as well. But in India, there's a lot of lament, criticism of course too,
at India's dismal performance in the Asia Cup, not reaching the final.
That's a bit of a shame but life goes on. It does, Charu.
We are glad to have you back. Enjoyed your postcard from Kenya, by the way.
Thank you for sending that it made it by snail mail, airmail. It's nice to see you again.
Now Jim, you've already mentioned our first topic for this week and that is because for the first time
ever, Zimbabwe beat Australia in Australia! It came in the third of three One Day Internationals.
The second of which Zimbabwe were comprehensively thrashed, managing only 96 runs with the bat.
But after that, the Zimbabwe head coach Dave Houghton said there was quite a big skill gap between the
teams, but that just didn't seem the case days later when the tourists then won by three wickets.
And the star for Zimbabwe was Ryan Burl, who took five wickets for just ten runs and joins us on the
show this week. It's really nice to have you on. Has that result and the performance had a chance to sink in?
I think slightly! I think, as you can see, I'm obviously grinning from ear to ear.
But I've obviously had a few days to reflect on it. And I'm still absolutely buzzing.
But yeah, we've obviously got the T20 World Cup coming up, so a bit of confidence going into that
and a lot to look forward to. When I was looking at the wickets that you took
and following the match, it was Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Agar, Glenn Maxwell and David Warner,
when he was on 94. Talk us through those and which was your favourite, I suppose?
To begin. I think I got Maxwell out first and in the first ODI, he gave me a bit of a slap.
So it was obviously quite nice to get one back over him with a nice caught and bowled.
Second wicket was, honestly, a gift. I think I tossed up a full toss and Agar just clipped it to mid-wicket
so that was a bit of a gift. And then obviously, David Warner on 94, probably trying to take on the
boundary option to try and get his hundred. And obviously miscuing that. So that was a good one.
And then I think, the second last one was Starcy, little bit slower in the air and I managed to
get him bowled and then the last one just got one to go a little bit quicker through and
find Hazlewood's edge to get a five-for and so very happy. Like I say, grinning from ear to ear.
Jim Maxwell in Sydney. A magnificent performance but after getting that hammering, Ryan, in the
second ODI, did you believe that this result was possible for Zimbabwe?
So, to be honest, Jim, looking at the early summer pitch, I don't know if you refer to it as a winter pitch here in
Australia. We kind of knew that the tosses were going to play a massive part in the game.
So we always kind of said to ourselves, even after the first game, we said, we win a toss,
we're bowling first, we're going to put them under pressure. So it wasn't ideal, we had a word with
our captain because I think he had lost five out of five tosses. He lost all the tosses against India,
lost the first two against Australia. So, we were pretty close to subbing him out for someone else
to do the toss. But no, we obviously, like I said, we were really pumped throughout, even though
we were losing. We kind of just knew that just winning a toss, giving ourselves the best chance
possible to restrict Australia. I saw on social media a bit of carry on and singing in the bus
so tell us about the celebrations that followed this remarkable achievement.
So we've obviously got quite a good crowd back home. We call it "The Castle Corner Crew" and obviously they weren't
really there in force and stuff like that cos it's a long way away here in Australia so they
obviously couldn't come along. So, we were just kind of, giving our all singing some of the tunes
that the boys back home give us. Just good vibes and very happy.
Ryan, the World Cup Super League
has obviously played a huge part in Zimbabwe's development and getting to where you are now and
in the T20 qualification for the World Cup, I was noting that the board has recently issued
its first raft of female player contracts as well, so developing in that sense. Are you concerned by
the fact that there is no more World Cup Super League and even looking at, say fixtures against
Australia and England, there will be none for Zimbabwe against those two countries over the next
five years? How do you see that landscape? It's kind of a tricky one to be honest, Alison.
Like you said, without the opportunity of playing those big teams in the Cricket World Cup Super League
cycle. And that's kind of what the Cricket Super League has created. An opportunity for us to play
those teams that we haven't been playing. So it is going to be sad and hopefully we can put in some
good performances that kind of entices those big teams to want to organise some bilateral series.
We're not worrying too much about what's going on around. That's kind of out of our control.
We're just enjoying our cricket. Well we wish you the best of luck for the T20. And of course,
congratulations on the win over Australia. It's so good to have you with us on Stumped.
Thank you.
So that was Ryan Burl, Zimbabwe leg spinner. Jim, we said a couple of weeks ago, it wasn't
particularly well known that Australia were playing white ball matches against
Zimbabwe. Has that cut through now with this result? Has there been a sense of shock waves
with Zimbabwe beating Australia? Less so, had it been in the cricket season. I think
because we're still pretty much overwhelmed here with finals in the AFL, Rugby League. South Africa's rugby
union team's been here, losing and then winning. A bloke called Kyrgios has been smashing his racquet
in New York. There seems to be a fair bit going on, but it did get more of a mention on the news
than it normally would because Australia lost and a lot of people saying, "What? They bowled them out
for tuppence the other day, how did they lose?" So yes, and now New Zealand are giving Australia
a run for their money and the crowds actually up there in Cairns at the moment are pretty strong.
I mean, it's like midsummer in Sydney. I suppose it's quite warm. And there are a lot of people
there in their shorts and having a few drinks and enjoying it, so it's got an atmosphere of its own
but it is a little removed from the main stage of winter sport reaching its finale with all sorts
of finals going on. Well at least the climate in Australia does lend itself.
You can move to different parts of the country and still play cricket outside of the traditional cricket season.
Charu, you've spoken a number of times about how the perceived demise of One Day International
cricket may continue or the way it is at the moment. Do results like this though show the
value of the way the ODI Super League has worked? Absolutely, I think One Dayers still have a long
way to go. If at all they're irrelevant, then they are well behind Test Match cricket, I think.
Because shorter forms of the game, as we all know, do narrow gaps in the standards between countries
and every once in a while, there will be a result, which will gladden the lesser nations, because for
them this is a very important ladder of somehow gaining more respect in the world of cricket by
an odd win, here, there and the other. So it will remain relevant for quite a while. I think lesser
nations particularly. The top nations may claim that One Day Internationals may get boring at one
point of time but I think for the lesser nations, if I can call them that. I mean no disrespect.
It's a very important stepping stone to reaching the higher levels of cricket because we need more
nations, that's for sure. We can't have six or eight nations just lauding it over all the time.
Next on Stumped, what do the former First Lady of the United States. Michelle Obama and England fast
bowler Mark Wood have in common? Well, they are both authors of a self-help book. And no prizes
for guessing which of them we have on Stumped this week. It is a warm welcome to Michelle,
no, it is Mark Wood, who joined us on Stumped. I caught up with him and I asked him, what on earth
made him think he could become a self-help guru?
Well, I was a bit worried there when you started
with Michelle Obama. I didn't actually know that. I was thinking what's the link here?
That's a great link that. I think doing something different, I didn't want it to be a stereotypical
"I did this. I've been injured, I play cricket." cos that would be boring for anybody to read so I
tried to do a bit of a different spin on it. Do something that, hopefully, if you're not
just into cricket, other people might like it as well, if they can get on board with that. It's a
bit light-hearted, bit fun and I think that's what made us do the book, really. I think I've done it
with Vish, who I'm sure you know well. Vithushan Ehantharajah, yeah.
Yes. Great guy, journalist. He really sort of brought out the fun side so it was nice and easy.
It was very relaxed, a bit like this chat.
It was just very much speaking to somebody over the phone, face to face, it was
it was very relaxed. And I think, hopefully, the book comes across that way as well.
Yeah, I do like the fact, you're sitting on the kitchen floor to have the chat with us at the moment. It
is very relaxed. From going through the book, the way it is treated, the format is not your standard
autobiography, if you like. Because it has got this tongue in cheek self-help element to it. Why?
And whose idea was it to format it in this way, cos you have interruptions from friends and
team mates throughout the book, who interject. It's called The Wood Life, by the way.
Yeah, The Wood Life, great shout. So Vish sort of came up with the idea. We talked about it that
we didn't want it to just be a stereotypical autobiography so that's why it's a little bit
different and I'm sure most people agree I'm a little bit different as a fast bowler. A small,
skinny guy, who tries to bowl 90 miles per hour and fall over every other ball,
so a little bit different than my actual bowling, hopefully this book is a little bit
different as well. I mean, if you want to learn how to bowl fast, that is one of the chapters.
But we've got other chapters as well, like maybe how you want to give a great best man speech or
how to kill time, it could be in the dressing room or kill time in life.
It's just through my stories and my experiences of daft little ways to get around things, I guess.
A big theme of the book, or it really came across to me, is how important your friends and your
family are to you and you mentioned Ben Stokes. He's actually written the forward to the book.
He calls you a clown and a joker and a 32 year old who acts like a 16 year old or vice versa.
Just tell me a little bit more about your relationship with him, where it started and how it's evolved.
I've always been close with Stokesy since my days at Durham. He's one of the guys that
when I first got into the Durham Academy, he was someone that I hit it off with, where he put his
arm round us. He's been slightly ahead of me in terms of his development. He played before
me for Durham, he played before me for England. So when I caught up, and went through to Durham,
went through to England, he was already in the team, which was a big help for me and we used to
car share together and travel around everywhere together. I'll not tell you that his taste in
music was horrendous but eventually I'll get it out of him. But it's great to have somebody so
close and I'm really proud and honoured that he could do the forward for my book.
In a daft way, one of the best things I remember about Stokesy, any time we get in any city, we want to go to the
cinema together. Stokesy' s got to buy everything. He wants ice cream, he wants sweets, he wants
popcorn, he wants the whole lot but one night we couldn't get out so we decided to watch the film
in his room. After five minutes, he fell asleep on his bed. So I had to take his shoes off him,
shut his curtains, get him in bed, all while he was asleep. Next morning, he acted like nothing
happened. "Why didn't you stay for the movie?" I said, "You're joking? You were asleep after
five minutes. How do you think the curtains were shut? How do you think you've got in bed?"
I don't get enough credit. Ali, honestly! That's mateship, that is real mateship.
You seem to be quite a superstitious person as well. Is that fair to say? Because there was a
particular instance you described during England's innings at the 2019 World Cup Final. Tell us about that.
I mean little things for me, like even cracks on the floor. I'll not stand on the
lines on the floor. If we lose a wicket, I can't sit in that space, I've gotta sit somewhere else
and often if we've got a partnership, I'll be in that position for the rest of the game. I don't
like watching it live, any of the play live cos it just makes me so nervous. I just waste energy.
So often, when you see fifties and hundreds and lads are clapping on the balcony, I'm never there
because I'm in the back room trying to keep it cool and not been allowed to move. So yeah,
quite superstitious. The World Cup Final, I tried five or six times, five different seats and of
course, the famous one that I managed to watch 20 overs from, was the washing machine.
So, to even tell that story now, it's beyond belief that the World Cup Final, I spent twenty overs
on the washing machine with the attendant doing the washing at the time as well, by the way.
Could you either leave me with something and my co-presenters, either a bit of advice from the book
that will stand us in good stead on a general basis or something completely new, that's a
good bit of advice for life? Don't take yourself too seriously, which I think
is the book in a nutshell. I think get as many life experiences as you can. I've been to Australia, India, all these
other places and experienced different things and it's all helped me to the person I am. But never
forget where you come from. That is sound advice. Woody, good luck with the book
and of course, the rest of the season and moving to those tours this winter as well, it's been great to chat.
Thanks Ali.
That was a very sound piece of advice, I thought. So Jim and Charu, I'm gonna turn it
onto you guys on the topic of self-help. Is there one bit of life advice each, that you
could pass on to me as well? What bit of advice, either somebody maybe passed down to you, that you
can share with our audience? I've crystallized it for you Ali, through all the advice I've had
from my mother and my father going way back. So I've crystallized it like this and it's the
advice I gave my youngest son when he made his first grade debut at the end of last season.
And I said, "Come over here." He said "What's going on dad?"
I said "Remember the advice I gave you when you were six years old?"
He said "No, no, what was that?" It was "Watch the ball!"
Nice one. Charu, what about you? I'd love to have people deal with this lifetime
with respect and humility. That's a wonderful combination, I thought. I try and follow it myself
and even in the world of sport, if they do, that'd be great.
It just brings a great sense of calm. So do try and go through life with respect for all.
Well, I remember my dad always saying to us kids, if you're ever asked for any advice,
he'd just say "Never get off a moving bus."
Which is very practical life advice
but I think it's very important to take a moment to appreciate and to celebrate the small things.
Well, that is it for this week's Stumped. I'll say my thanks to Jim Maxwell and Charu Sharma
and of course to you for listening and we'll see you again for more chat next week.
Until then, bye bye.